Shrirampur

I cannot possibly describe to you how much I learned and experienced during these two weeks. But I’ll try to share something =]
My team, a group of 7 fine artists and a 2 year old, went for our “mini-outreach” in a fairly large city in the state of Maharastra. Shrirampur is primarily Hindu but has a huge Muslim population as well. It also has a strong network of Pentecostal churches. We had just been given the location, knowing that someone had arranged our ministry schedule ahead of time.
Our journey began with a 7 hour Indian train ride from, what has become our home away from home, Lonavala. We were picked up by a Marathi speaking Pastor who we would stay with and work with for the next 2 weeks. We immediately started ministry in a remote Hindu village outside the city. We visited 26 houses with prayer, and had a couple of opportunities to share the gospel with families. It was amazing.

But it definitely set the tone of our outreach: exhausted and unprepared =) The whole two weeks it was spur-of-the-moment ministry. That might have been the biggest blessing though. We didn’t have time to get nervous about preaching or running a children’s program. We were just asked on the spot, and God always provided words and activities. I experienced God as my provider on a whole new level. Even when we were broken, tired, and uninspired, God always quickened our spirits when we had good works prepared for us.

Here is just one out of a million highlights:

When we were at a pastor’s home having dinner, he brought a young woman to me who had previously poured me a glass of water. He led her by the arm and opened her hand so I could see her palm saying, “Pray for her.” I said, “Okay, but why?” not understanding what was wrong with her hand. She had very unique skin, white spots in the midst of a tan complexion. He wanted me to pray for her healing, just because her hand was different. But he said it in a very degrading way, like she wasn’t made before the foundations of the world. Instead of praying for her hand to magicly turn colors, I was able to speak God’s love and acceptance over her, and she started crying. This pastor, who might’ve been the Father I’m not sure, had planted so many lies in her head about being ugly. God definitely brought healing to that woman but of a much different kind.

TRUST in the Lord with all your heart. In all your ways acknowledge Him and lean not on your own understanding. For a large portion of our outreach, I felt very in the dark. It was chaotic and confusing, the fruit seemed far and few between. Communication became our team’s weakness. In language, personality, walks of life, and culture, our team is the most diverse. The enemy was trying sooo hard to rip us apart and there were definitely some close calls. We really had to not lean on our own understanding, because we had none=] It was so confusing! But God reminded me that even in the raging storm, he’s holding the boat. At the end of all the chaos, confusion, and offenses, I can really say God actually had a purpose in that. I’m so grateful for it now. It was a great outreach, although challenging. Good character on this trip was like a beautiful, ornately wrapped, sparkly Christmas present, but inside the box was flaming, refining fire. I had so many ungodly ways burned out of me!

Overall, amazing trip FULL of blessings and lessons I’ll keep for a lifetime. We were the light of the world, everywhere we went, and God used us to be a blessing to so many of his creation.

Thank you so much  for your prayers. And to my dad, who prayed on the phone with me when I was on the verge of a freak-out. =] Love you!